The cleaning of carcass, meat, or meat product can be an unsanitary and time consuming task. Further, without a cleaning routine that effectively reduces microbial population on carcass, meat, or meat product, any number of problems may arise. For example, meat can retain pathogens or infectious microbes (E. coli) or become increasingly more contaminated if viscera is allowed to rupture or is not properly removed. Further, incomplete cleaning of the meat can also result in the presence of infectious microbes making the meat unsuitable for consumption.
Conventional processes for cleaning meat or meat products employ antimicrobial agents such as lactic acid or conventional peroxycarboxylic acid compositions. Conventional peroxycarboxylic acid compositions typically include short chain peroxycarboxylic acids or mixtures of short chain peroxycarboxylic acids and medium chain peroxycarboxylic acids (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,200,189, 5,314,687, 5,409,713, 5,437,868, 5,489,434, 6,674,538, 6,010,729, 6,111,963, and 6,514,556). Use of some conventional antimicrobial agents can result in changed color of the carcasses, and conventional treatment with hydrogen peroxide results in bleached and bloated carcasses.
The heightened concerns of consumers over the organoleptic purity and safety of meat products and the stringent economies of the meat and poultry industry have resulted in an ongoing need for meat product sanitizing compositions and processes which provide increased sanitization with organoleptic and environmental purity.